News

Top ad houses walk away from merger powwow

PLANS to merge AFA O’Meara and Owens DDB, two of the country’s biggest Irish-owned advertising agencies, have been scrapped, writes Ciaran Hancock.

The agencies broke off talks last week after failing to agree on a number of key issues.

It is understood that an offer was made by AFA O’Meara to shareholders of Owens DDB in recent weeks, but talks ended after protracted negotiations. Owens DDB, which is headed by Mark Hogan, its managing director, was valued at more than €4m. It made a pre-tax profit last year of €719,866, up from €148,316 a year earlier.

A number of stumbling blocks are believed to have scuppered the negotiations. These included pension issues and client conflicts, primarily between Volkswagen, an account handled by Owens DDB, and Suzuki, handled by AFA O’Meara.

While Irish owned, Owens DDB is an affiliate of Omnicom, which recently established an agency in Dublin called OMD. It